Short Wins - It's a Good Week For Remands In Fraud Cases

The Second Circuit sent two fraud cases back for resentencing, and vacated a conviction in its entirety! And they're cool issues -- for example, for the "mass marketing" enhancement under the fraud guidelines to apply, the government has to show not just that mass marketing happened, but that mass marketing happened to victims. A number of convictions were also vacated in a criminal tax prosecution, and the Second Circuit found a violation of the defendant's public trial right.

The D.C. Circuit entered the fraud remand fray, sending a criminal copyright case back because of errors in the restitution order.

Exciting stuff.

For those who are obsessive about extraterritorial criminal law (a growing number of folks, these days), the Eleventh Circuit vacated a few convictions for people convicted of violating U.S. drug trafficking laws for things they did in Panamanian waters.

To the victories!

1. United States v. Bellaizac-Hurtado, Eleventh Circuit: As a result of observations by the United States Coast Guard in the territorial waters of Panama, four people were convicted in the United States of engaging in a drug trafficking conspiracy. Panama consented to prosecution in the United States. Because drug trafficking is not "an offense against the Law of Nations" under the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act, Congress exceeded its power under the Act's Offenses Clause when it proscribed the conduct in the territorial waters of Panama. Consequently, the Act is unconstitutional as applied to these four individuals and, as a result, the convictions were vacated.

2. United States v. Marquez, First Circuit: In crack cocaine distribution case, appellant was sentenced to 121 months in prison based on the district court's finding that he had acquired for distribution 304 grams of crack in two 152-gram allotments. Although it was not error to attribute the first 152-gram allotment to appellant, the court committed clear error in attributing the other 152-gram acquisition to appellant because there was no evidence to support the finding that the additional quantity was actually 152 grams. This secondary finding had a "dramatic leveraging effect," as it triggered a 120-month mandatory minimum. Consequently, appellant's sentence was vacated and the case remanded for resentencing.

3. United States v. Lacy, Henry, Second Circuit: In mortgage fraud case, the district court erred in applying a two-level enhancement to appellants' sentences for an offense "committed through mass-marketing" under Guideline § 2B1.1(b)(2)(A)(ii) without making sufficient findings to show that the targets of the mass-marketing scheme were also in some way victims of the scheme. Consequently, remand for additional findings was required. The court also failed to credit any of the value of the collateral in formulating its restitution orders, warranting remand for recalculation of the restitution amount.

4. United States v. Gyanbaah, et al., Second Circuit: Appellant was convicted of five offenses arising out of his participation in a fraudulent tax return scheme. Because there was insufficient evidence to convict him of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft related to the bank fraud, his convictions on these counts were vacated and the case remanded for resentencing.

5. United States v. Gupta, Second Circuit: In immigration fraud cause, appellant's sixth amendment right to a public trial was violated when the district court intentionally excluded the public from the courtroom during the entirety of jury selection without first considering the following factors: (1) the party seeking to close the proceeding must advance an overriding interest that is likely to be prejudiced; (2) the closure must be no broader than necessary to protect that interest; (3) the trial court must consider reasonable alternatives to closing the proceeding; and (4) the trial court must make findings adequate to support the closure. Consequently, appellant's conviction was vacated.

6. United States v. Fair, DC Circuit: In copyright infringement and mail fraud case, the district court erred in entering a restitution order against appellant because the government failed to meet its burden under the Mandatory Victim Restitution Act to present evidence from which the court could determine the victim's actual loss. Consequently, the restitution order was vacated.

7. United States v. Woodard, Tenth Circuit: Appellant's conviction for possession of more than 100 kilograms of marijuana with intent to distribute was reversed because there was a reasonable probability that the jury would have reached a different result had appellant been allowed to cross-examine a witness about a prior judicial determination that the witness was not credible.